That was special. Somehow, all of the ridiculous Stephen Strasburg hype, the “Strasmas” stuff and Bob Costas slobbering and MLB authenticators on hand for a 22-year old’s first game weren’t overkill, because Strasburg took the mound and threw his fastball 98-101 mph with a stupid, 82 mph wiffle-ball curve and a 90 mph changeup that actually offered a change of pace and just obliterated the Pirates. He struck out 14 batters with 94 pitches. Let’s say that again: struck out 14 batters on 94 pitches.
The Pirates obviously did nothing to impede his march to the history books tonight, but I’m not sure how much they could’ve done. They didn’t help him out by swinging at bad pitches out of the strike zone, they didn’t stare at strike after strike. They put the bat on the ball and got some hits and scored and maybe they could’ve even won if Jeff Karstens wasn’t starting. But they didn’t, because for the most part they didn’t stand a chance against Strasburg. There’s no point in complaining or being bitter about this; the hype matched the performance tonight and sometimes there’s nothing to do but applaud.
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